that when I started to become Christian

I started to get really into like

minimalism and living below my means

like I don't need a bunch of stuff to be

happy and consumerism is really

destructive to me um I bought a lot of

random stuff like I bought like a lot of

manga and I'm like why did I just buy

like 50 50 of well

cringe yeah yeah it's very it's very

cringey and it's also like your money is

is your time so why am I wasting it in

buying a consumer good when you can buy

something like land or something that's

going to actually help you be free and

that's one thing I appreciated about

about about a lot of your videos is

talking I mean that's how I actually

first found it it was like you know how

to how to not be a wagy anymore and like

you know go live in the go live in the

country and you know you talk about like

the ThinkPad and the ThinkPad of cards

the Lexus and um you know credit card

shirting like all of these ways where

the money that you do have have is going

to go further and living below your

means cuz you really don't need that

much to be really happy um if if you

have God if you have your community like

Focus your time on living below your

means and investing in things that are

actually going to make you free so my

question is um did you always have that

mindset of kind of like living below

your means or did that kind of uh start

when you to start well I guess you lost

everything so um well I think even

before that I kind of had the mindset of

um I I I I think it it started as a

personal disposition when I was younger

I think I wrote in a blog post like

Millennials are more or less divided in

two categories you have like the

constant like Spenders who are just

blowing money everywhere they're getting

coffees all the time blah blah blah and

then you have maybe a smaller segment of

them who's like let's see uh can I live

in a 10x 20 box for the rest of my life

and um that that's kind of how I was you

know from the beginning like there's a

point where when I was 18 I'm like okay

I have a car could I live in this car if

I need to like how and so that that kind

of is my mindset and um and it can be

good or bad like there's a sense in

which it can be like a vice you know um

you know because it becomes like almost

in a way I I feel sometime let's say you

know you mentioned like credit card

churning and stuff like that yeah uh

which you know I'm a proponent of

whatever you can to to not invest in the

world more but

um you don't I I realized at some point

there's sometimes like a lot of people

are greedy for money it's almost like

I'm greedy for exploiting things or like

just I feel like there's something

vicious about like it's a vice you know

um so it you have to but I do think the

goal you know the goal in general is as

I said like living in a in a close

community of people physically next to

each other where the the the normal ins

and outs of life

you just don't need like you don't need

to drive 20 minutes to the store to get

something for $20 to do something basic

anymore and you know you look at I mean

a great example you know there are many

good examples of people who live in a

traditional lifestyle you know in in the

Orthodox world so you know in America we

have the Amish right in the Orthodox

World there kind of the old Believers a

lot of them live more or less like Amish

people um you know they wear older

clothing and they live in communities

but you know one thing I I think just

reading about a community like that

let's say the Amish like if an Amish

person wants a house what happens they

all get together over a weekend they

build a house after the weekend done the

house is built okay there's no debt

there's no like you know unnecessary

spending all the labor is just done and

everyone knows how to do it because

they've done it a million times you get

a free house and you give you

participate in building everyone else's

houses and that's not just an Amish

Quirk I was actually reading a

historical document from the county I

live in from the 1800s and they're

actually talking about these house rate

I mean people Everyone used to do this

you know yeah everyone used to do that

this is not just some Amish weird thing

um this is just human life and um we

we've lost it you know we we've totally

lost it or even you know more than that

I think it's really important like any

property you you buy should really

ideally be in your family for as long as

it can be you know like um if you have

property if you have you know five acres

or something like that expect to build

all your kids houses there you know what

I mean that's I think the mindset we

have to have and it's very different but

it's it's so much better and it's so

much like a lot of the the pain in the

modern world is self-imposed it is we

choose to live this painful and also

sinful life you know and ultimately sin

you know sin isn't fun like sin isn't

joyful you know might there might be

some fleeting enjoyment but like um you

know I I think that if anything in most

cases people need to be more true to

what they kind of know is the right

thing to do or the thing that's going to

I don't know I don't know re like

there's a lot of it's like what I said

earlier growing up as a young Protestant

there are a lot of things you know I

grew up with where I'm kind of like this

is kind of weird that we do this isn't

this I don't know isn't this like um

weird VBS stuff where we're dancing and

like goofing around there's all these

light colors is this really the

appropriate way to worship God you know

you kind of have this like reaction it's

very natural you know and it doesn't

just apply to to Faith it applies to

everything in life like yeah if the fact

that I mean let's say schooling I'm am

big I'm a big proponent of what's called

unschooling which is really just like

don't send your kids to school you know

let them learn learn in the natural way

if they have intellectual aspirations

they will naturally run across those if

they don't they don't need they don't

need a massive formal education you know

and that's one thing where schooling is

a great example where it's so unnatural

you take these kids you put them in a

classroom for eight hours a day they

don't have and guess what they don't

behave because it's it's it's evil what

you're doing in in essence and oh well

we'll just give them riddle and we'll

give them drugs if they not you know

it's so every every like it's not just

the the the stimulus is bad but the

response to the stimulus is bad and like

it just gets worse and worse and so

that's why it's important as I said if

you're gonna be in the world uh you know

and I struggle with this as well but if

if you're going to be in the world just

dip your toes a little bit if you need

something but the rest you should be

able to leave at any point you know yeah

um that what what's really sad is when

someone is 10 years into a career and

they just don't feel like they can get

out of it that's sad I mean that is

slavery it's it's it really is slavery

and it's also being a slave to uh the

world you know the in in a bad sense the

world you know yeah definitely yeah

think there's a huge problem with

schooling it doesn't actually teach

people skills like they learn all the

they learn all these facts that aren't

actually like applicable to their life

and I think there's a huge there's a lot

of Truth in what you said about you know

people who have aptitude are naturally

going to search out these things um like

I know lots of people who are

homeschooled and they're you know very

high Achievers because you know they

don't need you don't need to sit in a a

classroom for you know eight eight hours

a day and you know especially with what

they're teaching in nowadays it's just

completely uh unproductive and it's

actually destructive to um to children

and it it's all meant to just socialize

them not actually make them free

independent independent people and I

think that's the whole problem with the

system is they want to disconnect people

from the basic tasks that humans used to

do like you know food collection

building a house like the the average

person in high school isn't going to be

able to think oh I can build a house

because there's all these regulations

and you have to do you know you know you

have to use all these like tools and

stuff like that but it it really if

you're building something simpler like

the Amish or some of these uh like

traditional communities it doesn't need

to be that complicated we've just over

complicated it so much and you know

houses are so big now they're like you

know they make you know the square

footage it just keeps increasing

increasing of course if you're making

like a huge house it's going to it's

going to take a lot of skilled labor but

I think really getting back to I think

really the core of of of it is uh

individualism or like toxic

individualism versus collect some form

of collectivism is that especially

Orthodox Christians in America is we

should see oursel as a collective on the

local level because those are the people

that are going to be impacting your your

life the most and getting really

connected with them um build keeping

wealth within your communities keeping

your toes you know as as little in the

world as possible um because we really

want we don't want to be like the world

we want don't want to I mean because the

world inflames our our passions and uh

distracts us

really yeah yes that's and um I think

the the thing again like the the hard

thing for for me or anyone else is we

have to be willing to kind of make

sacrifices to get to that point and once

we're there it becomes a lot easier it

becomes easier as you go on you know

it's not like um I I I remember one of

my my old videos that I don't know if it

was one of my more popular ones but it

was I think it was one of the more

impactful ones in terms of like the

responses I got or emails where I'm like

um will you ever stand up for yourself

or something like that where it was

talking the it wasn't wasn't really

about the

um can you say that on you know the the

thing a couple years ago um is that ban

I don't know

can we talk about the shop either way um

I I assume all that so it's all be

memory hold so I can talk about the

vaccines whatever so the covid vaccines

or whatever which I'm I didn't really

talk about those but what annoyed me why

I did that video is like these guys who

are like I don't want to get the vaccine

but I'm gonna give in because I just

have to and I think my point in that

video is like if you're gonna give in

now that's just giving them licens next

time to for the next thing you're gonna

have to give into that you're gonna have

another struggle whereas if you make the

stand now it's actually going to be

easier you know and that's kind of how I

look at it like I I'm glad that I

actually moved when I did you know I'm

glad that I like lost everything uh when

I was 25 instead of when I was 30 that

would have been a lot harder and

actually property's a lot more expensive

you know so um it would have been a mess

um but uh yeah and so yeah all these

things in the world like I remember

seeing your videos about modern you know

TV and movies and how it it it really

feeds into this this this cycle and it

you know there's propaganda on on every

level from the education system and ads

TV movies and I think that's why we're

seeing such a growth in like

alternative um entertainment alternative

education but um yeah how do you how I

don't even believe in the Alternatives

so yeah so I what what what's an issue

to me is when people um you know they

don't like oh well I don't like this TV

show or I don't like the news so I'm

going to make my own news and in reality

like all of that kind of stuff is really

spiritual distraction I think even um I

I I think even being too invested in

things like like politics or something

like that can really be can really just

I don't know cover your spiritual eye

and you you read things in a wrong way

and you invest you invest yourself in

the wrong things that ultimately you

don't have control over you know like

that's that's kind of the the I guess

the thing about democracy that's really

pernicious that's really kind of evil is

that it's based on a lie that we can

control Power in in the world you know

the we can control the principalities

and power um if anything it it it's it's

so wicked because it gets people

invested in it because they feel like

they can affect things and that is a

spiritual distraction and that is you

you you get invested in these things

that you you can't control and um you

start rooting for a team uh even if

that's not to say all everyone's in

politics is equal I'm not saying that or

anything but I'm just saying it's not

for us it's not for us to be invested in

it um it's it's a distraction same thing

with most of this stuff like there is no

alternative for you know people would

often ask me like hey Luke you R into

free software what's a good free

software alternative for like Twitter or

Reddit or something like that and it's

like

I mean there are some but you shouldn't

be using them

like just stop you just close close the

screen here oh I don't want to do

probably gon mess something up um but

you know yeah yeah because all these

things are ultimately meant to sedate us

I I really think they're they're bred in

circuses is these shouldn't be the the

thing that Define our life is the TV

shows and your job and things like that

it should be the the people around you

focusing on them uh your your your local

church and because people the people who

like hyper obsess about like politics

and like things in the world I mean on

the left and right I noticed that

they're just very Doomer and blackpilled

and they're like sad about something

that was never even in their control in

the first place CU they have that

illusion that you know if we just if we

just win this election everything's you

know um going to change and it's not

that you know there there can be good

changes from elections but it's just

your ultimate hope should not be in that

is like you should be focusing on your

own repentance because that's ultimately

what's going to matter at the on at the

final judgment it's not going to matter

you know how much you cared about this

certain political issue it's going to be

really were you were you Christlike were

you were you humble and yeah yeah and

and that especially the kind of

political I don't want to talk too much

even indirectly about politics but like

um I think it um the complexity of the

world is so great that individual humans

truly it's so difficult to actually

understand how things are going to be

affected by this policy change or the

other there are some things that are

very black and white okay you know

abortions demonic okay things like that

but even then when you when you have the

layer of democracy on top you actually

don't know okay well maybe Trump is more

likely to you know do something about

abortion even though he says he's not

going to

um but you also might get get worse

stuff in Israel because of him you know

there there's all this kind of stuff

going on and ultimately I'm just not

qualified I I don't I'm not a a spirit

bearing Elder that can see the future

and I know exactly how to interact all

this kind of stuff so um I think it's

very unwise to be emotionally attached

to it most of all um I'm not going to

fault someone who like votes in an

election OB you know whatever I think

there's something weird about I I will

say like I become like kind of wary

about participation in that in general

but like I'm not going to fault someone

definitely for for for you know voting

or something like that but most

important no matter what you do is you

you have um you don't have spiritual

distractions when you're living your

spiritual life and you're focused on you

know don't you can't beat all the evil

in the world you're not under obligation

to do that you have to beat the evil

within yourself and um you know that

that's really the struggle that's a

struggle that's very difficult even to

do it for yourself but like don't off

more than you can chew that you have no

hope of chewing you know yeah exactly I

think that's what living in this Modern

Age and like being hyperconnected to

everything it makes you feel like you do

have like you can make a change on these

like Global things when it it's

ultimately just leading you to despair

versus just focusing on on that is

defeat defeat the evil within yourself

is that the whole approach of Orthodoxy

is like if you want to if you want to

save other people focus on your own

repentance and that's really difficult

is confronting your own sins every

single day

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